In a fresh claim, US President Donald Trump said “five jets were shot down” during the military conflict between India and Pakistan in May and repeated his assertion that the fighting ended following his intervention.
In his remarks at a White House dinner according to PTI , the US president, however, did not provide specific details such as whether the jets were downed by either of the two countries or if he was referring to combined losses by both sides.
“You had India, Pakistan (military conflict) that was going (on). In fact, planes were being shot out of the air, five, four or five. But I think five jets were shot down actually, that was getting worse and worse, wasn’t it?”
“That was looking like it was going to go, these are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other,” Trump said at the dinner he hosted for Republican senators.
According to PTI, There was no immediate response from New Delhi on the US president’s remarks. Interestingly , Defence Minister Rajnath Singh too has not reacted to US President Trump’s claims
While India acknowledged losses of aircraft during the conflict, it refrained from providing the details. Pakistan, on the other hand, has been peddling a narrative without providing any evidence that it downed six Indian jets. The claim has been rejected by the Indian military.
On May 31, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan said in Singapore that India suffered losses of aircraft in the conflict, but declined to specify the losses in terms of number of platforms.
The top military officer said the Indian military struck deep inside Pakistani territory after rectifying tactics. Gen Chauhan had also rejected Pakistan’s claim of downing six Indian jets as “absolutely incorrect.”
In his remarks at the reception, Trump also repeated his claim of ending the conflict.
“India and Pakistan were going at it, and they were back and forth, and it was getting bigger and bigger. And we got it solved through trade,” he said.
